The indiscipline continues

Jan 06, 2011 Editorial

The year is a mere six days old and already there have been more accidents that one can imagine. The number of these accidents appears to be more for this period than for any similar period in recent times. Early New Year’s morning a man became the first road fatality when he rode into a car. This was most shocking because rarely does the country record its first road fatality so early.
That must have been the trigger because since then there have been accidents almost too numerous to count. At the same time the road fatality figure has jumped to four, two of them in Berbice and two in Demerara. Up to Tuesday the count was four fatalities in four days.
Tuesday was probably one of the most horrific days as far as road accidents were concerned. In Georgetown alone there were four. The first occurred in Charlestown and involved vehicles owned by the Education Ministry and a private individual. The private individual, as now seems to be the norm, disregarded the stop sign and caused a crash that has written off one vehicle.
Later in the day there were two in central Georgetown, both along the Middle Street corridor. In every case there were no obstructions to view so the drivers could see approaching vehicles. Certainly they have developed a new law and they are allowed to continue to do so because there are no harsh penalties.
Before the day was over on car drove into a show window of a business place not far from the Demerara Harbour Bridge. This accident occurred where the road is at its widest and one is now left to understand what could have gone wrong.
The authorities, reflecting on the past year, have said that they have had to cope with the indiscipline that has taken over the society. In the first instance, people crash into traffic lights that are off the roadway because they actually refuse to heed the signals.
Clearly noticeable is the attitude of some drivers. In the first instance, when they should be slowing as they approach an amber signal, they accelerate and this causes so many collisions at traffic lights that at one time people actually took to blaming the lights for the accidents.
It must be madness knowing that the roads are intended to be safe but that drivers seem bent on a course of lawlessness. And to compound the situation, there are policemen who levy their own fines which they use for personal activities.
After a while, some drivers become so well known that they, the drivers, accept the fact that they have to pay their way on the streets and they develop a sense of immunity from prosecution.
In most societies there is hardly any collusion between motorists and the law enforcer. Errant drivers, regardless of their social station, suffer the same penalty as the ordinary folk. In Guyana, the law seems to be divided. The affluent tend to escape with immunity.
Just last week, the Ministry of Works said that it was at its wits end to enforce the law that stipulates that errant motorists pay for damage to installations. Less than nine per cent of those who caused the infringements have honoured their obligations. One woman who caused some $3 million in damage paid a mere $50,000 in compensation.
There is a law that now allows the state to take possession of property to satisfy debts but will this law be enforced?
It is this lax behaviour that must be blamed for some of the other things that happen in society. There is the disrespect for authority which is more often than not inculcated in the schools because the lesser administrators are hamstrung.
When the year dawned everyone expected a positive change in behaviour. The truth is that the indiscipline has been brought over. Something must be done.

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